Gruff Morning
by Psyff101
Summary: In the middle of a storm surge, Chelsea's house broke down and she ended up running all over town for help. Unfortunately, no one dared to open their doors for her. Now a few hours after the storm left, someone found her unconscious in the forest, what could happen afterwards?
1. Storm

The world rattled, thunder boomed in my ears, _snap_ and the sky split in half. I bottled up a scream as I moved forward into the field. Behind me the house seemed gone, turned into debris by the storm surge. Nothing more stood but junk on the sodden ground as I ran forward against the wind.

I felt something stream down my arm but dismissed it as the rain thrashed against me. My feet ran across the bridge and I barely made out the red that fell in drops.

The wind brought down my home along with cuts and bruises all over my body. I knew that but the urgency to leave overtook any other senses, sending adrenaline to pump through my veins in midst of the storm. Running through the main town, I noted the houses still stood strong. Despite that signs lay all around; thankfully, nothing seemed to be flying at the moment.

With my breath caught, I went straight towards the first house there. I knocked against the howls of the wind and tried to stand my chance against it. Just as a light turned on inside, it went out alongside the single hope flaring inside of me.

Tears streamed down my face having no energy to stop them. But I steeled my nerves and moved to the next one, to the next, and the next…but fear won everyone over.

Ragged and out of breath, I tugged my coat closer to my body as I ran across another bridge. My sense of direction went haywire from the adrenaline so I didn't know where I was. In the next second my foot got caught by an upturned root.

At that point I knew where I was. Weightlessness, fear, hope, anger, and sadness all merged inside of me as my face hit the ground. My fingers clawed through the mud in frustration.

No one dared to help me. No one tried to do it. Imagine laying face first on the ground, the mud seemingly being absorbed by your skin as your blood dripped down. Thunder boomed once more. Automatically my hands moved to my ears and pulled my legs up closer, until I found myself in such a vulnerable position for a nineteen year old to form.

I felt unconsciousness reeling me in. In that situation, I heard a voice calling me over and another one shouting for me to leave. These voices resembled someone from before. They felt warm and filled with nostalgia though I didn't recognize them. And then I saw a light protruding my eyelids.

I tried to open them.

Yet it felt like a thousand anvils landed on them and prevented anyone from lifting them up.

I tried moving my arm and suddenly a weight fell over my chest. I wondered whether my arm moved or not but someone yanked me up. But my eyes still refused to listen to me.

"…ou…live?" a dismembered voice entered my ears.

All of a sudden, a strange being appeared in front of me. Six wings revealed themselves from its back and I instantly knew I was dead.

I'm dead so what to do now?

For a second, heaven and hell became my two favorite thoughts. If Heaven existed then hell coexisted with it. I looked up, straight at the 'angel', until I realized that my eyes felt heavy.

Okay, I was mistaken. I wasn't dead.

Placing all of my remaining energy in opening my eyes, I found light.

A single light saved me from the darkness. It turned out to be a flashlight carried by a person.

"She's alive! What should I do?" he yelled out.

A female voice cussed loudly and yelled back, "Bring her in, you idiot! If she's alive in the forest after a storm then she needs help!"

A few grumbles and I felt like a sack of flour being carried into a store.

"What the hell! She's a girl, why are you carrying her like that!"

"I don't know. You're the one who told me to bring her in."

"Just shush and put her on the couch."

Whatever material the couch was made out of, being put down on the couch felt like being tossed down on the floor. The mud felt like a better place to sleep on than this couch. Someone scolded him again and a warm hand pressed against my forehead, another one holding my hand.

"She's awake…" she muttered in disbelief, "What's your name, sweetheart? How did you get here?"

My voice felt coarse. It felt like I drank a glass of sandpaper and it stuck to my throat, but I tried to speak out and it seemed as though they understood me.

"Che…sea."

"Poor girl, did your house get destroyed by the storm?"

"Obviously…" the male grumbled.

"Shush!" she yelled but changed to a more concerned and lighter tone with me, "You look familiar though. Are you Selene's daughter?"

Selene, my mother's name sounded strange after six years of absence. Anything's possible in this world, my mother may have been the angel or not but someone mentioning my mother seemed so implausible. Her disappearance caused no harm to anything but my livelihood.

For years I waited for her to come back. Day by day, I waited as an innocent adolescent or a small kitten awaiting her owner to return, although nothing came up. In the end, I just lumped her up with the list of dead people in my family register.

This woman seemed ways different from her and I wouldn't have believed that she knew my mother if it weren't for her own words.

I tried to get a good look at the woman helping me but my sight was blurred and twisted._ Fever vision_, I supposed, it felt like staring at your distorted reflection in a basin of water with your hands slashing at the water. So I gave up trying and closed my eyes again.

"Vaughn! Go and bring me some warm water and a towel."

A door shut and a yelp came up. "Mom, what happened?"

"We found her unconscious earlier. Help me clean her up, Julia."

"Should I even be here?" the male asked.

"You go fetch us some water!" the new voice ordered and I lost consciousness again.

When my eyes opened again, everything just looked different.


	2. Soup

Different described my morning the very next day.

When I lived at the house, no one but I resided in it so no one but myself greeted me through a mirror; somehow today that mirror transmogrified into someone that hammered my brain for a name. Long blond hair tied up in a ponytail, her outfit reminded me of a sexy farm girl, and her eyes sent out an eager enthusiastic vibe that fit the mental image of her.

"Good morning!" her cheery voice greeted though I noted the concern lingering. "How're you feeling today, Miss Chelsea?"

I pushed myself up and stopped halfway. A throbbing in my head halted any functions but my sight narrowed at her. She seemed so familiar yet I couldn't put my finger on it.

Jessica?

"Does your head hurt? I wouldn't be too surprised,"

Jane?

"You did hit your head hard although,"

Julie?

"The mud did help soften your fall…hey,"

Juliet?

"Are you all right? You seem dazed."

Then I remembered.

"Julia?" it felt like a Eureka moment so my voice came out louder than needed.

Her face lit up like she didn't expect me to utter anything coherent at all. "That's me. You know you were slipping in and out of consciousness last night, you definitely had us worried. You even asked for water and spilled it all over yourself! Good thing we're the same size."

Same size?

I looked down at my body and confirmed the sudden change in clothes. Baby blue pjs replaced my old white ones. I didn't remember much of last night but they somehow bathed me so the previous dirt and mud that stuck to my brown hair last night disappeared. My hair became soft that maybe literally having a mud bath might be good. But craziness hadn't taken over me yet.

I gave Julia a slight smile. "Sorry about that…you are Julia from the live something exchange, right?"

She nodded. "Livestock. Mom and I handle everything involving animals here on this island."

I saw this girl a few times before. Based on my memory, she always hanged out with a pink-headed glasses guy from a house last night (although I don't remember which one). My knowledge of her revolved around him and solely around him, that and during the festivals they hosted.

When I muttered her name again, delight instead of surprise crept up to her face. Nothing short of it showed on her features even as she continued, "You need help with anything? I know that you're still weak so if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask."

"You're not surprised that I know you?"

She giggled as she shook her head, "Not at all. Unless you've been living under a rock or just ignoring festivals, then I would've been. I often see you around Sabrina during those events so I know you're not a cavewoman."

"You know Sabrina?"

A kind of a stupid question to ask when everyone can plainly see her father's importance to the mining on the island, but Julia humored me.

"Tell me someone who doesn't? Even the island natives know her through her father."

"The natives?"

I went out to festivals, not to explore. Whenever I left the house, I tended to return half an hour later instead of the expected time of return. My list helped me with a lot of stuff. It never required me to go socialize since talking with the salesclerk checked it off.

These natives sounded new. I didn't even know they existed, and they're the natives, meaning they inhabited this place before we even settled here. And I lived here for 19 years. It brought on the feeling of negligence after living on this island my whole freaking life.

"You should really meet them! They can speak English so we can communicate easily with them."

A nudge to my curiosity almost pushed me to ask a question: Who taught them English?

But I decided not to for the sake of both of us. Looking at Julia, knowing about the islands' history seemed improbable unless it somehow involved cows.

"So they speak fluently?"

She waved a hand. "More or less…if you compare them to one another then that's the answer you'll get outta me." She smiled. "But enough of natives. It's not like one of them is gonna smash through that window. So,"

Mumbling something to herself, she pressed a hand on my forehead. "You're fever's gone down that's good. How does your head feel?"

"A little throbbing here and there but I'll live." I grinned.

"Just rest here and I'll go bring you some soup." She stated. Not even waiting for me to respond either positively or negatively, she pranced out of the room with a hand fixing her hair.

I relaxed back under the comfort of the sheets. The room certainly looked different from my plain one. Julia's character suited the designs of the room with all the pictures and memories that adorned each of the four aqua walls. Photographs of her and her friends and family fit into every picture frame my eyes found. A few stacks of photo albums sat quietly in a corner, although not lonely since a tiny corner of a picture peeped out of one. I only deduced it as newly placed last night.

Probably around the time I came in.

Everything else looked and felt old but filled with memories. Speaking of memories, last night more or less fit into the bad memories list. With my house gone, where would I live in? No one else from my family lived on the island; in fact, my mother never told me anything about our relatives. She neglected anything related to them aside from my uncle.

But my uncle lived someplace else…two ships away to be exact.

Somewhere with a flower for the name of the valley, but my memory failed to pinpoint what kind. Maybe if it had then I wouldn't be telling anyone this story of mine but it didn't. So I pondered and thought of any livable vacant lots, houses, or maybe even barns. But nothing came up aside from a dog house.

Looking at the state of my body, with these bandages wrapped around my arms and legs, chances of finding a home looked easy if the landlord pitied me. But then work came up as another problem. Till now I've been surviving off of the money my uncle sent to my mother every month (he wasn't notified of her disappearance) and it stopped around two months ago.

The money saved in the bank didn't have enough to pay for a lifetime.

"Here's one bowl of steaming hot carrot soup!" Julia's voice derailed my line of thought. She came rushing into the room and quickly settled it down on a nearby table. "And here's a glass of water, Chelsea."

The soup smelled…different.

Don't mistake me, the soup looked astonishingly appetizing for a homemade dish. In fact, the chef may win a contest with this one through presentation alone. Nevertheless, I diverted my attention and made a grab for the glass and gulped it down in one go.

Julia giggled a bit and brought the tray closer to me. "Well, you can hold a glass of water without spilling it so I guess you can eat this by yourself, right?" She placed it on my lap this time.

I nodded. "Thanks for…this. And I mean everything from last night and today."

"No need to thank us." She waved a hand over her face but her tone exhibited a tiny hint of pride over my words. "Mom's going to need some help prepping the store so just yell and we'll come on over."

"I'll be sure to tire you guys out then." I grasped the spoon tightly.

"Just try it." She smirked, "There's someone here who lurks these halls during these days and will, I swear, will enter this room if you start yelling all over. He hates loud unnecessary noises while he's working so…Beware."

And with that perturbing warning, she stepped outside with a smirk on her face. Leaving me to think of the 'monster', I tried my chances to discover who, just who she warned me of.

I inhaled deeply. "Ju-"

Not even two syllables in, the door swung open so suddenly that it left me speechless. Had he, the monster, sensed my intent?

"Julia, have you-" Surprise apparently overwhelmed his features as he peered inside.

Instantly, the voice clicked in my head and placed it on to someone…specifically, someone from last night.

"You're the one who carried me like a sack of potatoes!" I accused the…cowboy?

His eyes widened and he titled his hat to cover part of his eyes, "…you're still here."

"You should've knocked first." I retorted, "That's-"

Two of his fingers quickly pinched his nose and he grimaced. "What is that…stench?"

And then his eyes locked on to the soup. "Did Julia make that? I swear the only things she knows how to cook are the ones I hate." After mumbling some more, his footsteps receded down back into the hallway until nothing but my thoughts echoed.

That guy definitely looked different. Close to an albino with his hair and eye color but his skin begged to differ. The sensitive white skin of an albino looked ways different from his slightly tanned ones. Based on my knowledge from those old classes in biology, that guy looked 100% healthy, in terms of health of course. In terms of fashion maybe a bit too old fashioned?

When I saw him wearing a cowboy hat with the complete ensemble, I refrained from gaping. And I mean definitely old fashioned. Why would he need to wear that? And why all black? Though I admit the black complemented his hair and his attitude.

I wore a bandana everyday but at least I didn't look totally out of place in this era. The beach helped the fact that people sometimes said that I looked like a pirate wannabe.

Unlike those shows you see on TV, no one else dared to open the door to peek inside at the bandanaless pirate and to start suddenly befriending me. So I grasped the spoon tighter and dove into the soup quietly.


	3. Debt

_CRASH!_

I jolted out of bed and made a quick scan around. The room looked clear of any broken vases or dishes, even the soup bowl still sat quietly on the bedside table. Nothing special to note about Julia's room.

"The hell!" a voice passed the room in a rush, "What's..."

It trailed off, farther where I suspected the store might stand. Quickly, I swung my legs off the bed and planted a hand firmly on the nearest wall. In one push my left foot stepped in front of my right.

"Great, I can still walk." I murmured and brought my right foot up. Everything went well until somehow my right leg hit my left and sent me tumbling at the table. The impact shook it, making the fragile bowl dance in a heart racing motion.

My eyes widened. Shit. If I needed to break something, breaking it in the actual home of my saviors seemed very _very_ disrespectful, even for a good reason. _One, two, three_. Thankfully the bowl took pity on me and rested once the vibrations ceased.

With one deep breath, I steadied myself again. Extra careful this time, I pressed on to the oaken door and finally let go of the wall. I moved forward into the quiet hallway ridden with picture frames of families and animals, behind them lay the lavander painted wall and some marks of some sort.

"You all right now?" I heard the familiar gruff tone of his coming closer with each step.

Not even moments later, my eyes caught a glint of silver. I quickened my pace but halted just before turning to enter the half-opened door. I peered through the wedge instead.

Sure it sounded like spying but suddenly barging in seemed so unruly for me.

Sitting on a chair and leaning over the counter, Julia pressed a hand to her head. A few meters from her, the kind blonde woman stood with a finger tapping her chin facing away from my line of vision. The cowboy leaned against the wall opposite of both of them. Though separate, Julia possessed evident worry on her face and even the cowboy showed it through his distant gaze.

What happened? Whenever you sleep, all the big things happen. I knew that. I felt like an intruder just by peeking but, looking at Julia, I knew I needed to do something.

When I gave the door a slight push, the grim atmosphere mercilessly pressed down on me.

"Selene's daughter is here?" an old man's voice piped up first.

Everyone's eyes turned to me. Now that I stepped out I saw why the blonde faced away from the two.

Taro, an old balding man who stood as a mayor to the island, stood with his arms crossed. Based on his position, he was talking to her before I came in.

The blonde laughed. "Yes, we found her unconscious during that horrible storm last night."

"What? Well she's pretty lucky to have survived with the state her house's in." he stated. "All that rubble and no one found her, we even sent out a search party for her."

"So sorry about that, Taro." the blonde laughed. "We were so focused on lowering her fever last night that we forgot to tell you."

"At least that's one body off the list."

"You mean there're some other missing people?" I asked.

"No, you're the only one on our search lists, missy."

Great, attention I didn't want.

'Chelsea, be a doll and go find your body in the forest.' sounded mighty horrifying to hear someone order and someone else searching sounded even more terrifying. If they looked everywhere for me at that point then death already closed up on me.

Through my trail of thought, realization dawned and a wave of gratefulness slammed into me. If neither Julia's mother, Julia, nor that cowboy went out that night then say goodbye to this brunette. When no one else dared, these three saved me last night. I didn't know how to thank them.

Taro reeled the blonde into another serious conversation. Knowing when not needed, I turned my attention to the room instead. I heard the sound originate from here. My eyes pranced around the stacked boxes, rows of livestock care items, and the same wooden wall; until they stopped at just what lay below that wall.

I resisted moving closer to check. Hundreds of pieces scattered on the floor near the half-opened door to the kitchen. A vase, most likely and unintentionally, brought down. I glanced at Julia and noted a band-aid on her left elbow (her back was turned to me). Did she collapse?

Like a curse I brought down, one plus one equals two successively unconscious people.

Talking to Julia seemed…unwanted. Her left hand grasped her seat tightly while the other covered her eyes. What happened?

When I thought everyone's lips were sealed, he suddenly appeared beside me.

"You should go back to your room." He suggested in a low tone.

"I'll go…" I whispered. "But I need you to tell me what made Julia act like this."

He looked down and tipped his hat. "…Why?"

Because I wanted to help them to pay for their generosity, I didn't tell him that though. "I just need to know."

He seemed unconvinced. Observing me for his answer, his strange eyes stared at me for the majority of my request. Likely, I suspected, he considered if I hounded gossip for a living. But after a few seconds, he nodded his head and sauntered into the doorway for the bedrooms. By his silent reply, I took it as a notion to follow his lead.

When I fully entered, the door shut quietly behind me. I twisted halfway and found the cowboy leaning against the door with his arms folded over his chest.

"Are you going to tell me?" I asked.

"It's about their business, the livestock exchange." He replied. "Now tell me exactly how you can help with it."

I shook my head. I knew nothing about business or cows or any animal for that matter. "I can't help you with that but maybe I can help fix the cause?"

He snorted, amused over something I said. His lips curved a bit to show a slightly mocking smirk. "Not a chance."

"Why? If you aren't gonna tell me then I won't know."

"Necromancy's a horrible hobby for you to have."

Necromancy? I figured something used for cows. After all, I didn't know an ounce about their business. If so why the 'horrible' then?

"Just tell me what the cause is!"

"…someone died last night." He tipped his hat, this time further down so it covered his eyes.

I suddenly felt the need to hug myself. Did they not survive the storm last night? Did their house collapse on them? Thinking about it, lady luck shone down on me last night and saved me from death. If it didn't, that angel's face would've shown itself and brought me to either hell or heaven. But someone else…died.

The world stood in front of us awaiting everyone to make their move on it. But nature moved first and trampled all over us, leaving all of us to wonder why. Why did this happen now?

I gulped down a lump in my throat. "How did he…kick the bucket?"

Opposite of my hesitation, he answered nonchalantly. "From an illness he had before."

Immediately my hand covered my mouth to hide the slight smirk targeting myself. I was way off. I forgot about diseases.

"Can't help you with that one." I fixed my mouth back into a serious one.

He crossed his arms. "…that's what I said."

"Then answer me this," I pondered over the question. If it affected Julia's business then it involved animals. The only other place on this island that needed animals… "Was it Taro's protégé?"

He nodded but stayed quiet.

I immediately drew the connection from this store to the ranch. Being a supplier for the produces and dairy, that place was probably this store's number one customer. With it gone, a death blow hit the store and, not to mention, the island's supplies.

Taro's a former renowned farmer but, in his old age, it seemed unlikely to repeat through him. His age catching up to him, he successfully found an apprentice for himself and gradually trained him to become a famed farmer. And a disease brought down the curtain for him.

"That's…" I thought of what to say. "Unforeseeable. What's gonna happen now?"

He shrugged. "Don't ask me. I only transport animals to this island but for Mirabelle and Julia…"

He left his sentence hanging but his eyes spoke. They looked lost in a swirl of concern for the two blondes that worked alongside him. I guessed that if you worked with someone for a while, an attachment forms whether you like it or not. You're not going to be used to seeing them in a low state.

"Let's do this then." I started.

"What?"

I smiled. "Count to ten and say something random. Just something random…here, follow my lead."

_Where was this heading to?_ I asked myself. But visibly, I took a deep breath and began counting. _Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six…One._

"I want to take over that farm for them." I chose the words at random. In my heart, it felt right to say. In my head, it felt so wrong.

"…What did you say?" his brows furrowed.

"If you guys were close to this farmer, someone needs to take care of his stuff and I need a place to stay."

It sounded inconsiderate. Moving in when the owner just died sounded insensitive but I knew the farmer had no relatives here. No one can take care of that place except for me. And if I ended up trampling on his memory then sue me, I needed somewhere to live and the inn never seemed good for me.

"It's not just about running the farm." he argued, "They were close to him too."

I knew that. In fact, volunteering to act as a house sitter seemed very appealing.

"Then I'll speak with them." I finally found a way to repay them. If I took care of the farm and the house, I officially paid them back then.

No matter how many times I repeated it in my head, I kept thinking about the debt. A chance already presented itself, I only needed to grasp it and use it. Taking care of the house and the farm means taking care of his memories and to repay a debt, I needed to do it properly.

* * *

**A/R (Author's Rants): You know what's strange? Seeing the fans of Haikyuu! pair up the male members and go yaoi. Just browsing the section here made me cringe but you can't put a leash on imagination, can you? I can't handle yaoi or yuri but I'm not against it. Okay, now that that's out of the way I'll go on and say thanks for the views. It's honestly the first time I've ever had a 2nd chapter be read over 50 times by different people. Thanks for enduring the grammar and language flaws in them. Hopefully those who read Chapter 2 also read this one. **

**For those who know of/reads Persona fanfics here, do you think I should make one? I'm experimenting with romance with this story and for the Persona one I'm thinking of action.**


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